Itinerary #5

Day 10:

Location: Tensee, Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Country: Germany

Garmisch is a venue I’m pretty sure that I remember from watching Ski Sunday as a teenager. I think it was where Franz Klammer and others did that whole giant slalom thing. And it may have been where Eddie Edwards leapt into our hearts. But that wasn’t why we came here. We came here for the Bavarian mountains. I’d found myself strangely warmed by Germany. It was more endearing than I’d expected. And we wanted a wee bit more. And so, en route to Austria, we stopped in southern Bavaria.

And this was a simply stunning location. It was more rural than Bad Liebenzell. But I wasn’t expecting to be woken by the cow bells as the cattle came down from the higher pasture to be fed. But it was a sound that I grew to love, even if it reminded me that it was only just passed dawn.The nearest village was a place called Krun, the nearest town Mittenwald. The site was surrounded by vast, visually arresting mountains. And we never grew tired of looking up at them. They seemed to change during the day as the sun moved.

The pitches were gravel, which never feels quite the same underfoot as grass. And setting up the awning was a bit of a challenge. But it meant I could add to my growing collection of camping paraphernalia with a new hammer and nail pegs. But once we were set up and had created our own shade (in the absence of any provided by natural cover), we were sorted. The small lake, 50 metres away at the bottom of the terrace of pitches was simply a wild mountain tarn. It made for a wonderful start to the day. And a substitute for a shower on more than one occasion! The cycling promised to be fantastic. The price wasn’t astronomic. And the regional dress worn by the staff was a daily source of humour.

The highlight of the stay was the day of activity centred on Lake Welchensee. Rufus and I cycled there for breakfast. Rosslyn and the other two drove to meet us there with the bikes on the roof. We then cycled together round the lake to the cable car. This took us up onto the peak of the nearby moutain. We stopped for ice creams (who wouldn’t), before spending the next two hours descending to where we’d started from. We had lunch in a lakeside restaurant and then cycled back to the car. Rufus and Rosslyn cycled the ten kilometres back to the campsite.

We got absolutely drenched one ride into Mittenwald, which was unfortunate. We never really got the hand of mountain weather. But we knew we couldn’t all cycle back so Rufus and I bit the bullet and cycled back in an absolite downpour to get the car. I left him behind the get warm whilst I drove back to collect the others who’d been sheltering in the supermarket, spending even longer than usual to get the groceries.

The kids were gutted that there was no swimming pool on site (even though there was a lake). But they were delighted with the local swimming lake which was a five-minute bike ride away. And the real treat was the diving boards, pontoons in the middle of the water and water slide. And since we were there whilst the German schools were still hard at work, we had the place virtually to ourselves.